What are your best tips for pitching with co-founders and team members?

Cuando pitheas la idea de tu startup es un fundamental entender a quién tienes en frente. No debes utilizar el mismo pitch para hacerle a miembros de tu equipo, a potenciales inversores y menos que menos a potenciales clientes. Lo mismo pasa con la duración, con tu equipo puedes hacer una presentación que dure largo y tendido pero un inversor no querrá escucharte por más de 3-5 minutos antes de empezar a hacer preguntas.

I have observed several pitches where team’s have disproportionately relied on the most charismatic person. Investors seek confidence in the whole team, not just the CEO or founding team members. Know your audience and tailor your pitch accordingly, let each team member speak on the parts of the pitch that highlight their strengths, and craft a cohesive narrative that resonates throughout the pitch for a more impactful impression.

Pitching Powers Progress! ???? I'd compare pitching with co-founders and team members to a well-coordinated engineering project. Firstly, know your audience, akin to understanding the requirements of a project. Define each person's role clearly, ensuring a cohesive and efficient team effort. Tell a compelling story, much like a carefully crafted project narrative. Use visuals to enhance understanding, similar to engineering diagrams. Anticipate questions like preparing for potential challenges in a project. Finally, be authentic, ensuring credibility and trust.

Pitching with co-founders and team members is about showing unity and diverse strengths. Ensure everyone knows their part, highlighting key roles and expertise. Practice together to ensure seamless transitions and coherence. Show enthusiasm and shared vision to engage your audience. Finally, allocate time for Q&A to address concerns directly. Thank you and best of luck in your pitching endeavors!

When pitching with co-founders and team members, understanding your audience is crucial. Here's how to ace it: ? Research Their Backgrounds: Before stepping into the room, know who's sitting across the table. Are they tech-savvy investors, traditional business owners, or perhaps venture capitalists looking for the next big thing? ? Identify Their Pain Points: Every investor has unique concerns and interests. Is it long-term growth, quick returns, or market disruption that excites them? ? Adapt Your Communication Style: If your audience prefers data-driven presentations, bring out the charts. If they lean towards storytelling, narrate your startup's journey in a compelling way.

The worst thing that can happen in a pitch is that the different cofounders or team members get tangled in the explanations, taking each other's word, contradicting each other or leaving important topics uncommented on. To avoid this mess, the team should adopt specific roles and choose a sole interlocutor when their area of experience is discussed. One can be the visionary and charismatic leader, who tells the storytelling of the project. But when you have to explain technology, you give the floor to the CTO partner. Likewise, when we have to talk about numbers, we pass the baton to the financial expert. This creates the feeling that the startup is managed by a team, and not by a lone wolf. This is usually a positive point for investors.

Nuevamente, con quien estés hablando es importante a la hora de armar el pitch. A un potencial inversor que va a ponerte mucho dinero le interesará conocer con lujo de detalles al equipo fundador (edades, background, cuantos a?os hace que se conocen) y si tienes un board de advisors lo mismo. Mostrar miembros del equipo no suele ser taaaan necesario ni determinante, a lo sumo una foto del accountability chart o estructura organizacional para que el que está enfrente dimensione el tama?o de tu empresa.

During evaluation of a management team, we are watching the dynamic very carefully. It is totally fine if you lean on your best presenter, but usually everyone gets some sort of a turn "at the mic" and a key thing is not to cut one another off or create tension. There can be practice sessions, shorthand signals, and other ways to communicate during a pitch that doesn't reveal a tense founder dynamic.

Like a band... We all have unique instruments that are playing a song together to conduct a specific response. Clear. Concise. Complimentary.

No cuentes la historia tal cual de manera tediosa y aburrida. Aprende a darle forma a la historia de como surgió tu startup, aprende a manejar los tiempos, los silencios y los tonos de voz.

Don’t just “tell a story”. That can be boring. Learn the craft of “story telling”. Create a captivating story that is exciting and reaches people’s hearts. Create and retain interest. Rinse and repeat.

To truly engage your audience through storytelling, try leveraging the power of multi-sensory experiences. Incorporate elements like background music, sound effects, and visuals in your presentations or videos to create an immersive environment. Use interactive elements, such as polls or quizzes, to involve your audience actively in the story.

Pitching as a startup team isn't just about facts and figures; it's about weaving a compelling narrative that captivates your audience. ? Integrate Personal Journeys: Blend your personal stories with the startup's mission. Share how each team member's unique experiences and skills are crucial to your startup's journey. ? Showcase Team Synergy: Illustrate how your team’s dynamics work in harmony. Share anecdotes of overcoming challenges together or how diverse perspectives led to innovative solutions. ? Highlight Collective Vision: Narrate how your shared vision brought you together. A unified dream, fueled by passion from every team member, makes your startup's goal more tangible and inspiring to your audience.

Dois tipos de histórias s?o vitais para founders: a de origem e a de vis?o. A história de origem cria uma conex?o emocional, explicando as raízes e a motiva??o por trás da startup, enquanto a de vis?o mostra o futuro desejado e o impacto pretendido. Um início cativante é essencial para prender a aten??o. Conectar a origem com a vis?o e a tra??o atual da empresa cria uma narrativa coesa e impactante. Isso n?o apenas atrai investidores e clientes, mas também mostra a jornada e as aspira??es da startup. Uma boa história de origem ressalta a autenticidade e os valores, enquanto a de vis?o demonstra inova??o e ambi??o, fundamentais para o sucesso e crescimento no competitivo mundo das startups.

Hay muchas cosas que se explican mejor en fotos o gráficos que en texto. La realidad es que los mejores pitch son los que menos hacen leer al oyente.

The best advice that I can give is that your pitch is like wine... it will get better and better with time. The more you talk to people, read, think... its goes into your pitch. But in the end you will need to choose what to use. Visually you can compound ideas, concepts in a non-boring way, but it takes time more than it takes talent! Keep going

For impact...it's not about the complexity of the visual. Nor the amount. It's about the alignment to a core design aesthetic that connects all the moving parts towards a brand-related whole. It's all connected and the power of brand is far too often overlooked. The hardest things are typically the simplest ways to say the most. This is a great place to invest and stand out.

Keep in mind that the slides you are using are SUPPORTING what you are saying, dont let yourself slip into a habit of trying to support your slides. Its a nuance, but your pitch should make sense without them, and your slides should just enhance your pitch.

Well-designed visuals like slides make complex ideas simple and impactful. But don’t let slides do all the talking – maintain engagement.

To enhance your startup pitch, conduct mock interviews with your founding team before meeting potential investors. This will ensure that all team members share an aligned vision and understanding of the company's mission. While individual opinions may vary, it's crucial to present a cohesive front regarding your roadmap and goals. Align your team's responses to key questions about product development, target customer base, company vision and mission, short and long-term roadmap, hiring strategy and future expansion plans. This preparation demonstrates to investors that your team is well-coordinated and has a clear direction. It also helps to identify and address any inconsistencies in your story as a team.

The more time you have to spend answering shallow questions, is the less time you have to go deep where it counts. Know your audience, cut the common q's off at the pass, and facilitate depth where you know they care the most.

This goes for everything that you ever build, build a preemptive FAQ! This is not only for a pitch, but also for everything you ever build. It will help you understand a lot better what you are doing and why, as well as prepare you for external criticism and readyness.

I recommend roleplaying questions investors may ask and coordinating responses between founders to address concerns transparently.

When pitching with co-founders and team members, preparation and teamwork are key to handling questions effectively. Anticipate common or challenging questions your audience may ask and prepare clear, concise answers backed by data or evidence. Distribute questions among co-founders based on expertise, supporting each other if necessary. Maintain coherence in responses to demonstrate unified understanding and commitment. Emphasize teamwork and mutual support to reinforce credibility and confidence in your pitch.

If you aren’t authentic, you are done before you started. Humans can sense energy and authenticity. Own it, live it, breathe it and most of all BE IT!

Being authentic is important, but I had a tough experience with a VC. We were honest and transparent about our location, product, and team, but after sharing our deck, they didn’t discuss any of that. They simply said they wouldn’t invest because we were based in Africa, despite offering to meet in the US. This taught me that while authenticity matters, founders should also have standards when pitching to VCs and choose the right partners. It's not just about impressing them, they need to believe in your vision, no matter where you’re from.

? Share Personal Stories: Integrate stories from your own personal experiences that connect to your startup's mission. This not only makes your pitch memorable but also showcases genuine passion, and authenticity. ? Team Dynamics: Showcase how well your team collaborates. Talk about the challenges that you've overcome together. Authenticity shines when you're transparent about the journey and acknowledge your failures. ? Honest is the Best Policy: Don't over-exaggerate or over-promise. Set realistic expectations and remain consistent in your messaging. If you believe in your product's value, let that confidence speak for itself.

Authenticity is the heart of your pitch story. Be yourself, and let your passion and genuine belief in your idea shine through. Authenticity creates trust and credibility, making it easier for others to get behind your pitch.

In inspiring and motivating your new colleagues, authenticity stands paramount. Being authentic involves honesty, transparency, and genuine interactions about your vision, team dynamics, and objectives. This authenticity fosters trust, credibility, and connection, showcasing your dedication and passion. Avoid misrepresenting or overselling yourself or your startup’s capabilities. Instead, embrace your true self, approach situations with respect and humility, and let your genuine enthusiasm naturally engage and motivate those around you.

A pitch should ideally be done by only a single founder. The perception of startups — especially early-stage ones — are tied inextricably to the perceptions of the founder. Fair or not, most customer AND investor audiences will judge having a team or even co-founder with you as a crutch, undermining their confidence.

Si el problema que resuelve tu empresa es interesante, si tu equipo es el adecuado para construir dicha solución, si te ven determinado a conseguirlo (desde el tono de voz, la mirada y la actitud) y encima tu compa?ía viene acompa?ada con clientes de pago... Es muy dificil que alguien no quiera invertir en tí, más allá de que tan lindo o feo haya sido el pitch.

It’s interesting reading the comments here. Some say that only one person should pitch and others say the opposite. For me, it always comes back to the basic rules of presenting. If you are presenting to a technical audience then you need to have someone present a brief high level view and then hand over to the CTO….UNLESS your CTO is a horrible presenter. In that case the CTO should be there just to answer tech questions. If the main founder is a poor presenter then they should also present as little as possible but definitely answer questions at the end. So pick the right people to present based on their knowledge of the offering, their place in the company and their skill at presenting.

My very first tip is "Don't" But if you still intend to pursue this approach then be mindful of the following: 1) Maintain little distance while delivering to capture viewers attention 2) Give crisp speech deliveries 3) Practice co-storytelling 4) Designate who is going to answer what genre of questions 5) Try not to interfere when your colleague is speaking, it shows absence of synergy